Normalcy
by shallowness
Summary: This may be the closest they'll get to being two normal teenagers at the cinema. (Spoilers for 4.01.) Bruce/Selina.


Summary: This may be the closest they'll get to being two normal teenagers at the cinema.

Author's Note: Inspired by what Alfred said about Bruce and Selina in 4.01. I hadn't seen beyond that on writing this. This hasn't been beta read, so constructive criticism is welcome. 1,064 words.

 **Normalcy: shallowness**

With a dry chuckle, Selina pulls Bruce out of his absorption in the puzzle box he's holding. He looks up at her, feeling the rightness of having her around and the strangeness of it at the same time.

"Well, here we are," she says, "in a movie theater. Won't Alfred be pleased?"

It takes Bruce a second too long to follow her line of thought. Impatiently, she clarifies. "Remember what he said about us going to a movie theater, like normal people our age?"

Bruce doesn't say that whatever description anyone gave of either of them wouldn't equate to normal. That's a given.

And of course he remembers Alfred's words.

"When he said going to the cinema, I don't think he had breaking into the Gotham Rialto in mind. I doubt that it's shown anything for years," Bruce says. He looks around, and wonders if it was open when his parents were dating, although he doubts his father would ever have taken his mother here.

The theater has gone beyond neglected to abandoned, but is not entirely decrepit. Normal kids who go to the cinema on a Friday night wouldn't have such good reference points for the state of a disused building.

Bruce and Selina found their way here because of the hunt that has made them allies again, for however long it lasts. He's glad to put what they've found here aside and be in the moment with her.

It's as if Bruce's gaze is too much for Selina. She makes an uncategorizable noise and marches to sit in one of the more stable-looking rows, one seat in.

"Whatever. This is probably the closest we'll ever get to going to the cinema together, so," she pats the seat next to her, "pretend I'm Jane Normal and you're…Joe Ordinary and join me."

Bruce tries to judge what's going on. This is new, or old. There's the echo of Selina inviting or daring him to join her on the edge of The Iceberg Lounge's roof. That night, he wanted to talk to her, to apologize. Now, here she is inviting him to sit next to her, even if it means playing some sort of game, putting on an unlikely identity. But does it matter if he's being someone else if it means sitting next to her?

Bruce slips the box into his coat pocket and takes his place next to Selina, imagining away the dust or possibly worse that has settled on the seat over the years.

Now it's her move.

"The lights are down," she says and frowns at him before Bruce can point out that light is streaming in from the projection booth and the fire escape, where there used to be doors. He says nothing and passes the first test.

"We have a tub of popcorn between us." She mimes putting a tub in the cup-holder on the armrest between them.

"And what are we watching, Jane?" he asks, going along with it. Selina hasn't let her guard down around him to be playful for months.

"Not the boring foreign language film you wanted us to go see, Joey. This is a film where things blow up and the audience has F-U-N," she breezes. "Even you enjoy it, because you get to do a running commentary about all the ways it's dumb. Of course, I have to throw popcorn at you."

Selina mimes throwing something at him. Her eyes are mischievous, and Bruce wonders if they could be any brighter if there was a movie playing up on screen to be reflected in them. He can almost imagine what the cinema must have been like, back when it smelled of popcorn, not decay. What it would feel like to lean towards Selina and whisper in her ear, making up complaints. He thinks of all the normal teenagers on their dates, all over America, even in Gotham. And in the darkness, they dare to say things they otherwise wouldn't.

"And I grab your hand, to stop you wasting the popcorn," he says, suiting the action to his words. His grip is light enough that she could pull free, but their hands are touching, and he has no intention of letting go. Her reaction holds his attention far more than any blockbuster could.

"And we watch the film to its predictable, lame end." Selina says, almost as if there's no physical contact between them and her breathing pattern hasn't changed.

"Do we?" Bruce asks, thinking that a 'Joe Ordinary' on a date with a girl who makes him feel the way Selina does – there's no point denying the effect spending time with her again has had on him – would be left frustrated by just holding hands and watching an entertaining, but bad film. She's so close after being so far.

Selina quirks an eyebrow, daring him to come up with something better to do. Bruce discards the safety net of pretense, and leans over, not to whisper to her, but to kiss her.

For a second, there's no reaction at all from her as his lips reach hers, and it's like falling into a void. But then her lips move and Selina kisses him back. Bruce feels the blood rush through him and he stops thinking. Instead, he feels. The kiss is a little frantic, needy on his side, because everything she gives only makes him want more. It's Selina, unquestionably Selina, kissing him, and he finds his free hand tangled in her curls when she pulls away, her breath ragged, her eyes blown. He will never find the right adjective to describe her face in that moment.

She leans her forehead against his, and he doesn't know what to say, but her hand remains in his. So, he closes his eyes, listening to their breathing, feeling his pulse calm down.

"I like going to the cinema with you," he says.

She chuckles again, but this time he can feel as well as hear it. Bruce really doesn't know what will come next, after she pulls away. Selina will have to be the one to pull away, because he doesn't think he can. After that, will it be a punch or another kiss? Maybe he has overstepped. They aren't normal kids on a date. This may be the closest they'll ever get to that. But he doesn't regret what's happened.

Again, it's her move.

Fin


End file.
